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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Morning in America, Gil Troy's examination of Ronald Reagan's legacy, is not nearly as linear as the subtitle, "How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s," would suggest. While the influence of Reagan's image-oriented presidency (the book's title is drawn from a pivotal campaign commercial) and capital-driven domestic approach influenced the birth of the '80s media explosion and the fashionable status of capitalism, Troy shows that the inverse was also true, with Reagan and his team of advisors responding to trends as much as guiding them. Troy revisits icons of the decade--Madonna, Hill Street Blues, Dynasty, CNN, yuppies--and demonstrates the ways in which they intersected with the guiding principles of Reaganism and in turn why they are what you think of when you think of the '80s. Of course the decade was also notorious for a rise in crime, the emergence of AIDS, and growing fears of nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Troy tackles that duality as well, arguing that unlike the malaise of the Jimmy Carter era, the idea of Reagan, and the notion behind his electoral victories, was one of wishing to see the country how one would like it to be. As might be expected from a book that blends pop culture, politics, and history, some arguments are better than others (can we really glean all that much about abortion by noting that Madonna insists "I'm gonna keep my baby" in the chorus?). But the effort to look at an era as a whole by examining its many different parts is often successful. Although Troy is clearly a big fan of Reagan, this is not necessarily hagiography. In fact, it's not really about Reagan at all. Historian Troy is more interested in Reagan's identity as a cultural symbol than he is in defending or attacking the decisions made during Reagan's two terms in office.--John Moe
From Publishers Weekly
Entering the realm of the proverbial chicken-and-egg problem, historian Troy examines the relationship between Ronald Reagan's presidency and the materialistic and politically vibrant culture of the 1980s. In chapters organized by year from 1980 to 1990, Troy weaves his narrative of Reagan's presidency into an impressionistic portrait of the cultural and political phenomena that defined the decade-from network shows Dynasty and the Cosby Show, through the rise of MTV, CNN, yuppies, Madonna and Donald Trump, to the culture wars of race, gender and political correctness. The effort makes for a lively read, packed with insightful comments about the decade and its legacies. Dubbing Reagan's era "the Great Reconciliation," "where the sixties met the eighties culturally and politically," Troy dismantles the myth of a politically passive mainstream. Treading a line between lionizing Reagan and disparaging him as "airhead," he highlights the contradictions of Reagan's conservatism, with its emphasis on wealth and glamour on the one hand and, on the other, "an ascetic streak that recoiled at such excess." Beside Reagan's vision of a "morning in America," manifested in a soaring economy, surging patriotism and faltering Soviet Communism, Reagan presided over "mourning in America" with spiking crime, drugs, family breakdowns and AIDS. Troy avers that Reagan "dominated, and defined, the times" and "remains the greatest president since Franklin Roosevelt." But the Reagan that emerges from his analysis is less the captain steering American culture than a symbol of the 1980s whose greatest strength lay in placing his finger on the pulse of "the American id." As Troy writes, Reagan projected a vision that "was the vision of themselves most Americans wanted to see." Whether Reagan consciously sought to do so, however, remains an open question. 15 pages of b&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
See all Editorial Reviews
Morning in America, Gil Troy's examination of Ronald Reagan's legacy, is not nearly as linear as the subtitle, "How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s," would suggest. While the influence of Reagan's image-oriented presidency (the book's title is drawn from a pivotal campaign commercial) and capital-driven domestic approach influenced the birth of the '80s media explosion and the fashionable status of capitalism, Troy shows that the inverse was also true, with Reagan and his team of advisors responding to trends as much as guiding them. Troy revisits icons of the decade--Madonna, Hill Street Blues, Dynasty, CNN, yuppies--and demonstrates the ways in which they intersected with the guiding principles of Reaganism and in turn why they are what you think of when you think of the '80s. Of course the decade was also notorious for a rise in crime, the emergence of AIDS, and growing fears of nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Troy tackles that duality as well, arguing that unlike the malaise of the Jimmy Carter era, the idea of Reagan, and the notion behind his electoral victories, was one of wishing to see the country how one would like it to be. As might be expected from a book that blends pop culture, politics, and history, some arguments are better than others (can we really glean all that much about abortion by noting that Madonna insists "I'm gonna keep my baby" in the chorus?). But the effort to look at an era as a whole by examining its many different parts is often successful. Although Troy is clearly a big fan of Reagan, this is not necessarily hagiography. In fact, it's not really about Reagan at all. Historian Troy is more interested in Reagan's identity as a cultural symbol than he is in defending or attacking the decisions made during Reagan's two terms in office.--John Moe
From Publishers Weekly
Entering the realm of the proverbial chicken-and-egg problem, historian Troy examines the relationship between Ronald Reagan's presidency and the materialistic and politically vibrant culture of the 1980s. In chapters organized by year from 1980 to 1990, Troy weaves his narrative of Reagan's presidency into an impressionistic portrait of the cultural and political phenomena that defined the decade-from network shows Dynasty and the Cosby Show, through the rise of MTV, CNN, yuppies, Madonna and Donald Trump, to the culture wars of race, gender and political correctness. The effort makes for a lively read, packed with insightful comments about the decade and its legacies. Dubbing Reagan's era "the Great Reconciliation," "where the sixties met the eighties culturally and politically," Troy dismantles the myth of a politically passive mainstream. Treading a line between lionizing Reagan and disparaging him as "airhead," he highlights the contradictions of Reagan's conservatism, with its emphasis on wealth and glamour on the one hand and, on the other, "an ascetic streak that recoiled at such excess." Beside Reagan's vision of a "morning in America," manifested in a soaring economy, surging patriotism and faltering Soviet Communism, Reagan presided over "mourning in America" with spiking crime, drugs, family breakdowns and AIDS. Troy avers that Reagan "dominated, and defined, the times" and "remains the greatest president since Franklin Roosevelt." But the Reagan that emerges from his analysis is less the captain steering American culture than a symbol of the 1980s whose greatest strength lay in placing his finger on the pulse of "the American id." As Troy writes, Reagan projected a vision that "was the vision of themselves most Americans wanted to see." Whether Reagan consciously sought to do so, however, remains an open question. 15 pages of b&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
See all Editorial Reviews
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